


It'll be over soon

by Galrafloofandlove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Branding, Burns, Dehumanization, Electrocution, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Needles, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Surgery, Torture, Vomiting, White-Haired Keith (Voltron), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22378654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galrafloofandlove/pseuds/Galrafloofandlove
Summary: While on a Blade mission, Keith is left behind and the Galra capture him.Things spiral out of control from there, even after his rescue.(Please read all tags before reading)
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 99





	It'll be over soon

**Author's Note:**

> Set after s6 but the Castleship survived and Shiro got his arm still in space. 
> 
> So, post-season 6 with a few tweaks. 
> 
> Written for the VLD angst bang! 
> 
> [My wonderful artist's work!!](https://twitter.com/aleesshu/status/1220766186570272768?s=21)!

His eyes open slowly, eyelids fluttering up and down to reveal a dark, lonely cell. 

There's the heavy smell of burning, and the fainter scent of metal. Maybe it's not metal, maybe it's actually blood. 

There's chains around his wrist holding his arms above his head, his elbows and shoulders straining from having to keep them up. He was sitting on the cold floor of the prison. His legs were free, strangely, but Keith figured he'd be sedated soon enough that them being free of chains won't mean anything. 

Keith knew he was in a Galran prison as soon as he saw the fluorescent purple light hanging in the center of the cell, swaying freely back and forth...back and forth...back and forth…

He might as well get used to the light. It would be the light he would stare at as he died. 

Krolia would be furious with the blade members who had left him behind on that mission. Many died, but two lived and knew Keith was alive. They heard him over the radio transmissions and decided to save their own asses. 

Victory or death is still a motto held up by much of the high council. His mother couldn't bypass a decision by them to come save him. Perhaps Kolivan would object to the decision to abandon him and there would be a chance a search party would be held, but Keith can't get his hopes up. 

In reality, Keith was probably going to die here. 

Suddenly, two soldiers entered the cell, their boots clinking against the floor with a noise that makes Keith's ears bleed.  
A druid follows behind them, a syringe filled with a pinkish-purple liquid and a sharp needle on the end. 

"This is what caused the High Priestess so much joy when she learned of his capture? Pathetic." One of the soldiers sneers, a hearty laugh escaping his lips and chest heaving.  
"Careful, Morvick, you wouldn't want the little half-breed unleashing all his anger on you!" The other gave a smaller laugh, giggling under his breath. 

"Are you idiots just going to stand there? I'm sure your High Priestess wouldn't be so happy about your little joke break. Paid by the dobosh, right?" Keith would admit he was tired and in pain, but he wasn't going to let these freaks demean him without saying at least something. 

The taller and bigger soldier, Morvick, snickered. 

"A little brat as well. Well, traitor, if you're so eager to expose the secrets of the Blade, then go ahead!" He said, elbowing his partner in the side, who stepped closer to Keith and knelt down to get on his level. 

"Where is your high council?" He asked. 

Keith smirked. 

Then spit in his face. 

The soldier stumbled back as the saliva hit his helmet, waiting for his partner to help him. 

Morvick never did. 

"Fine. Be difficult. That was your only chance to do this without pain." Morvick snapped his fingers, ignoring the smaller soldier's mutters of "gross" and "disgusting".

The druid approach, kneeling down on Keith's level and bringing down the turtleneck of the prisoner uniform. Keith didn't even notice that he'd been changed.  
The needle went easy in Keith's neck. He winced a bit, but mostly just stayed put. He couldn't avoid this, he knew as such, so it was better to just let it happen. 

"That'll shut you up." Morvick smirked, before grabbing his partner and ushering him out. 

The door slammed and Keith was left alone. 

Keith's top lip falls heavy a little later, a cold chill running through his veins and numbing every part of his body. 

He can't blink.  
He can't breathe. 

He passes out from lack of oxygen, head banging against the wall of the cell as he blacks out. 

~~~~~~

He wakes up, staring up at a bright purple light that blinds him. 

He's strapped down by the neck, elbows, wrists, hip, chest, knees and ankles. 

He's completely immobile. 

The surface under him is cold, and Keith concludes that it's a metal slab used for an examination table. He can hear metal clinking next to him, but the strap against his neck makes him unable to turn his head. 

There's something hard and rough shoved into his mouth and down his throat. 

Oxygen. 

It's feeding him oxygen. 

He can also feel something similar to an IV port imbedded in his elbow, pumping him full of an unknown substance. 

It was definitely not a sedative. They would never be so kind. 

He struggles using the minimal freedom he has, but finds himself unable to even do that. 

"Hello, traitor." 

Haggar. 

A warm hand caresses his cheek, where the burn scar from the clone is. 

She runs a clawed nail up and down the scar, like she was admiring her handiwork. 

"It was sad that plan didn't work out so well. So many of my creations...down the drain. It's okay, through. Revenge is so bittersweet." Her voice isn't rough as he remembered, but it was still hers. Keith would regonize it anywhere. 

She holds up a small, pea-sized white device perfectly in his range of vision. 

"This is a tracking chip. See, if you happen to escape, we'll find you. And if your friends come to rescue you, we'll be able to find them too and take down your whole rebellion." She explains, taunting. 

Keith can't even reply with a snarky comment. She's taken that away from him.

She smirks. 

"That's what I thought." 

Then she gets a sharp surgical knife from a table out of Keith's vision, lines it up with Keith's temple, and cuts a long line of skin across his forehead. 

A whirling sound fills his ears not a second later and then she's sawing away parts of his skull like scissors through wrapping paper. 

He tries to scream, but finds himself unable to even do that. 

She cuts without caring about Keith's pain. He knows, now, that the substance running through his veins isn't any kind of painkiller or sedative. He can feel every rip of skin, every chip of bone. 

She places the tracking chip in the divet she made, looking incredibly smug when she makes eye contact with Keith. He can't even keep his eyes closed when he's in so much agony. 

She goes back and fixes the incision messily with glue and stitches. Keith can feel every entrance of the needle into his skin and every pull of the thread as she finishes. 

"I'll be kind. Have a sedative to sleep." She says, bringing a druid in to change the substance input of his IV. 

Then they leave him there. 

He eventually falls asleep, twitching with every terrible dream that plagues his mind. 

~~~~~~

Keith can't figure out how long he'd been here. 

There's no windows in his cell, no indicators of a cycle passing.

Instead, every time he's dragged out of his cell and taken to an examination room for more horrid experiments, he counts it as a day. 

They cut him open and collect his blood, pump him full of different drugs and test the effect. They tie him down and electrocute him. One day, they inject a boiling serum into a vein on his left leg. 

The pain from that injection only fades once Keith's makeshift time system lasts a week since the boiling serum was given. 

After having another forgein substance was forced into his veins and his reflexes were tested before he was thrown back into the cold prison floor, Keith wakes up from a painful, nightmare-infested nap to register a figure in his cell. 

A familiar figure. 

"Give up." 

The figure speaks, spitting out blood. 

The face becomes clear then. 

Shiro. 

Shiro with cuts and bruises all over his face and he's bleeding and he's going to die…

Keith's screaming as arms violently drag him back out of the cell and down a million different hallways. 

All Keith can see is Shiro, close to death, telling him to give up. 

Finally, the soldier who had been dragging his limp body deposit him on a padded chair that vaguely resembles a dentist's chair back on Earth. 

Keith's head is spinning as a Galra in a pristine lab coat speaks with the soldiers. He's not strapped down, but he's so frozen with fear he can't move, either. 

He just slumps down on the chair, useless and hyperventilating and about to pass about. 

The Galra is suddenly kneeling in front of him. 

"Breathe for me." She instructs, helping Keith to sit up in the chair. 

"Leave me." She shoos away the soldiers with a hand motion, eyes still focused completely on Keith. "Tell the High Priestess he hallucinated the champion. The serum worked." The Galra speaks with urgency, holding a piece of equipment that looks like a surgical mask to Keith's face. He struggles at first, until it's pressed to his face gently and he feels the oxygen that he yearns for being fed through it and settles down. 

"She will be glad." One of the soldiers speaks through his own mask, voice heavy and breathy.  
"Never give her a false alarm of a paladin again. She does not have time for your games." The Galra snaps, cutting a death glare to the two soldiers as they leave and slam the door. 

Now that his brain is getting oxygen, Keith notices he's in an examination room, but it's friendlier than the others. There's nothing to bind a patient down, no threatening tools or needles out in the open. 

"That's it, little one. Breathe." The Galra says, cupping Keith's wrists and bringing them to hold the oxygen mask to his mouth and nose by himself. 

Little one? 

The only two people that calls him that is…

His mother and Kolivan. 

The Galra seems to notice how his eyes widen. 

"I had hoped that would calm you down a bit." The Galra smiles, and Keith realizes he knows her. 

She's a doctor at the Blade. 

"This room is not bugged, Keith." The Blade says with certainty. She presses something cold and mechanical to Keith's pinky. He prepared himself for a needle to jut out, but it never comes. Just a beep and the tiny object is pulled away.  
"You can let go of the mask now. Your blood-oxygen is back to normal." She instructs, and Keith slowly brings the mask down to his lap.  
"Perfect." She grabs the mask and places it on a metal tray attached to the chair.  
She presses a button on the tray, and the chair begins to move, elevating Keith so that he's level with her eyes as she's standing. 

"My name is Xaphe. We're working to get you out of here. They gave you a hallucination serum, and it seems it worked. The images may disturb you, but please stay calm. Help is on the way." She assured, before holding what looks like a walkie-talkie in her hand and saying "Patient 002-00538 is stable. He's ready for transport back to holding.". 

She mouths "I'm sorry" as two soldiers, different from before, open the door and come into the room, dragging Keith back to his cell once again. 

He has less nightmares that night, thankful that rescue might be on the horizon. 

Might. 

~~~~~~

The visions continue. 

All of Shiro. 

Shiro in so many situations. His arm cut off and bleeding, a bright red cut slashing his eye. Shiro with bandages all over his head, blood seeping out from under them. 

Keith sobs himself to sleep when the visions appear, and when he wakes again they're gone. 

One day, Keith is shivering as he hears footsteps approach. 

He prepared himself mentally for the entry of soldiers and more torture. 

Instead, a familiar figure bursts through the door of his cell.

Shiro. 

Shiro with a nasty cut across his cheek and a dark spot around one of the knees of his suit.

Another vision. 

“G-Get away. W-Why can't yo-you just...leave m-me al-alone!” Keith stutters as the footsteps get louder and the vision comes closer. 

Keith cries as the vision unrolls a blanket from under his shoulder, and reaches out to touch him. 

The touch doesn't fade. 

The vision burns the chains holding Keith in place, and wraps him in the blanket, picking him up and cradling him like a child. 

Keith's tears turn to sobs of relief. 

This Shiro is real. 

~~~~~~~

Shiro carries him down the many hallways of the prison, promising that the Black Lion is just a little further away. 

Keith's too hazy to remember Haggar's warning until they're just a couple hallways from the lion..

"If your friends come to rescue you, we'll be able to find them too and take down your whole rebellion." 

The words echo in his mind. 

"W-wait." He says, voice wavering. 

Shiro doesn't respond, but Keith can tell he's listening. 

"They put a tracking chip in my brain. Y-you have to leave me or r-remove it." Keith insists, voice firm despite how scared he actually is. 

"It can wait until you're back at the Castle, safe and sound." Shiro says, not making eye contact with Keith as he continues to navigate the winding hallways.

"N-no. I'm not letting you get hurt because of me." Keith responds, voice beginning to fade altogether. 

Shiro looks down quickly at the dark spot on his knee. 

"Bit too late for that." He says, biting his lip. "But I'll call the others. We'll see what we can do. I promise." 

Keith breathes a sigh of relief at that as the Black Lion's gentle purring grows in his mind. 

"This way." Shiro says, to nobody but himself, as Black gives her own navigation instructions until she's in direct view. 

~~~~~~

Shiro lays him down gently on the cold metal floor of the Black Lion, still settled in the hangar of the Galra ship Keith had been imprisoned on.  
Keith registers the other paladins entering, Pidge carrying a large briefcase filled with medical supplies. 

Keith feels Black take off, in a completely different direction than the other lions as they fly without their paladins back to the Castle.  
Keith assumes Black will just circle around in orbit until they can no longer be found by the Empire. 

"Keith?" 

Pidge's voice makes him open his tired eyes. 

He sees her, a syringe filled with a clear liquid leaking beads out of the needle at the top in her hands. 

"I'm going to give you a numbing agent. Then I'll remove it as quickly as possible, and we can go home." Pidge speaks calmly, but Keith can see through the ruse. She's terrified. 

They all are. 

Hunk is by Pidge's side holding tools, and although his facial expression is stoic, there's clear fear behind his irises. Lance hovers by the pilot's chair, chin up but lips quivering. Allura is sitting crossed legged on the floor, eyes closed like she's either meditating or praying to an ancient Altean god or goddess. 

But Shiro is by far the one with the most fear running through his mind and the one with the most cool and collected look on his face, as if Keith just had a little cold and wasn't in a position of life or death and needed brain surgery without a medical professional present and only a teenage brainiac with the only tools and equipment she could get her hands on while they were hopelessly floating through space hoping they wouldn't be tracked before Keith had been operated on. As if Shiro himself didn't have the skin of his right knee burned into a clean circle with a dark stain of blood starting to appear behind the shredded knee pad onto his bodysuit. 

Allura opened her eyes from her meditation or prayer and notices the dark red spot at the same time Keith did. 

"Shiro!" 

Shiro raised one eyebrow up at Allura, sitting against the back of the pilot's chair of the lion, acting like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. That's how Shiro was- emotion would show clear when he was comforting somebody else about their feelings or was passionate in a fight, but when it came to his own feelings, he clamed up. 

He was caring, sweet and wonderful at helping others, but couldn't stand the thought of helping himself. 

It was different before Kerberos, albeit not that much different. Whenever Shiro felt his emotions bubble up, he would get angry and release any and all emotions that way. When he broke up with Adam, Keith heard the screaming over the phone. Shiro had come to his dorm, red-faced and looked like cartoon steam was about to burst from his nostrils and ears after they officially called it off. 

After Kerberos, Shiro just bottled everything up. Keith assumed it was due to the fact that acting out in anywhere that wasn't the arena during captivity would earn him more pain and torture. 

Throughout that year, Shiro had trained himself to keep everything inside. 

And he had never trained himself back to releasing it through anger or just being honest about his feelings. 

He just stayed the same, quiet self when he was hurting. 

Keith couldn't blame him, he would have lashed out in anger right now if he wasn't so incredibly tired and if the pinprick of the injection needle to his forehead the moment Allura had shouted Shiro's name didn't make him numb and even more drowsy. 

"What in Altea happened to you?" Allura was kneeled down by Shiro's side now, Lance following close behind as she lowered her voice so Pidge and Hunk could focus on their task. 

"Just a sentry's laser. I'm fine." Shiro's voice was mediated, sounded almost like he was happy but laced with sadness and fear that few could detect. 

But Keith was one of those few. 

"Let...let them patch y-you u-up, S-Shiro." Keith's voice grew shakier with every syllable, but he had said all he needed by the time Pidge told him to hold still and stop talking as she picked up a sharpened scalpel. 

Keith saw Shiro's eyes widen and fill with tears in the same second. 

Shiro nodded as the scalpel dung into the skin on Keith's forehead and made a slightly jagged line that would forever be another scar on Keith's body. 

He opened his mouth to scream, unsurprised that nothing came out. 

"Hunk, hand me bandages, surgical scissors, and antibiotic cream." Allura ordered in a stern voice, with poor Hunk now being the guy handling tools for two completely different medical procedures, which would definitely not happen in a real hospital or clinic environment.  
But this wasn't a real hospital or clinic. It was the floor of a sentient space lion that was made ages ago with six teenagers and young adults, two of which are injured and the other four trying their best to help them with no actual medical training.  
"Rubbing alcohol and burn cream too." Lance added as Hunk scrambled to find the things in the briefcase of supplies.  
They didn't actually have any rubbing alcohol out in space- but the med kits did have a solution that acted nearly identical to the rubbing alcohol on Earth, so rather than changing their vocabulary they just referred to the new solution as rubbing alcohol.  
"Then we also need a rag, preferably clean." Allura added even more to Hunk's growing list of things to find and give before Pidge needed him for something else. 

Keith wondered how he was still awake when Shiro bodysuit was torn around the injured knee and he bit the rag to silence his scream as rubbing alcohol was poured on the wound when he suddenly blacked out. 

~~~~~~

He woke up to soft whispers. 

"I can't do it." 

"Shiro, please." 

"I'm not hurting him again." 

"We made it to have that setting so-" 

"I'm not doing it!" 

"Guys, he's awake." 

Keith fluttered his eyes open ever so slightly to see Allura and Pidge hovering over him. 

His vision was blurry, only realizing that the blobs in his vision were Pidge and Allura because of the green and light pink of their armor mixed with pale and dark skin.

"Keith, we ran into a little dilemma." Allura's accented voice sounded like music to his ears- he was more numb than he was when he blacked out, and Keith wondered if they had found a sedative while rummaging around the medical kit.  
As his body adjusted to waking up, he felt a searing pain inside his head and pressure on his forehead, and realized that Pidge was pressing a bandage to his forehead because the wound was still open and bleeding. 

"I managed to take the chip and destroy it with as little damage to your brain as possible, although I'll have to examine later how much it may affect your memory and nerve outputs in the future-"  
"Pidge, please hurry up." Hunk said from somewhere behind Allura and Pidge. 

"Right, sorry. I ran out of stitches on the opening, through, since I had to make it big. Since Shiro's new arm still has a heating function, we need him to seal it shut. The problem is that he refuses to without your permission…" Pidge trailed off, obviously waiting for Keith to agree with hesitation. 

Which he did. 

"It's o'okay, Shiro. D-do it." Keith stuttered out, accidently creasing his forehead as he talked and wincing as he did. 

Shiro came into view suddenly, looking about really to burst into tears. 

"I love you, Keith. Please don't hate me." He whispered as he approached Keith forehead, Pidge carefully removing the bandage and pressure and Keith felt hot blood drop down his forehead and onto the bridge of his nose. 

The blue glow of Shiro's hand lighting up came into view as Keith smiled as best he could in his current situation. 

"I could never hate you." 

Then Shiro put a searing hot finger to Keith's forehead and ran the line of the cut like it was a zipper.

Keith screamed and blacked out for the second time that day. 

~~~~~~~

When he wakes up again, he's being cuddled and swaddled with a warm, fuzzy blanket like he's a baby. 

He feels something cool on his forehead, almost like ice fighting against the heat pooled on his skin. 

There's a distance voice in his mind, cutting through the haze and the light touch of pain. 

"You are safe now." The voice says in a soothing tone. 

"The lights are dim. You shall not hurt when your love is here. I will protect you, my child." 

The Black Lion was speaking to him. She was just a mother lion protecting her cub, saving him from pain. 

Keith smiles and sleeps. 

~~~~~~~

A screen in front of him comes down, blue light vanishing and being replaced by all the colors of the universe. 

He falls forward, not controlling his body. He feels like a wall falling down, gravity taking its toll on him. 

Strong arms catch him not seconds before he hits the floor, and a flock of white covers his vision, tickling his nose. 

Keith smiles even as he feels something crack in his right ankle. 

Then bile rises in his throat and he pukes over white hair's big shoulder. 

Then an audible snap echoed through the room and white hair screams. 

"Shiro!" A voice yells. 

Oh, Shiro. Yeah. Why was he screaming? Screaming isn't good, right? 

"He just vomited, I don't know why.." Shiro says, fear in his voice but he's still holding Keith. 

Keith whines when an unstoppable force pulls him away from Shiro's big, warm chest and puts him down on a stiff gurney. 

He whines. 

"I know, my boy." That voice- Coran, says. In all honesty, Keith is barely conscious. He feels his body float into nothingness and yet he still picks up on the events happening around him. 

He's nauseous, lying on a stretcher lifeless with Shiro sitting down on a gurney as well, protesting against it but Coran said something about too much pressure on his injury and dislocation. 

He's suddenly wheeled out of the medbay, running down the castle hallways and into the general hangar, where both him and Shiro are loaded into a pod and Coran calls the other paladins. 

When Keith opens his eyes as the pod takes off, he sees Shiro laying down on a different gurney right next to him, Coran peeling away a flight suit around the knee that was hit with the laser gun. 

He doesn't see much more, as his stomach growls and bile fills his throat. 

Keith violently pukes again and passes out. 

~~~~~~~

He wakes up again, bright purple lights assaulting his vision. 

He's still on the gurney, being pushed by somebody somewhere. 

For some reason, his scent is hyperactive. 

The scent of the walls around him correlate to Galra, but the scent wasn't hostile. 

Blade Base. 

He was at a Blade Base. 

He's going to the medbay. He can smell the cleaning spray and lack of the scent of other Galra. The medbay was kept sterilized, so he knew where he was going. 

There was another familiar scent. 

It was warm, reeked of cinnamon and sweat….

How the hell could he smell all of this? 

How did he know that cinnamon and sweat was the smell of Shiro? 

He stops focusing on scents for a second, and instead begins to hear people talking softly above him. 

"Without medical language, please. I was an astrophysicist and pliot, not a doctor." 

That was Shiro speaking, next to him.  
Being pushed on a gurney as well, having the same location as Keith- the medbay. 

"Cypopods hurt some Galra. We didn't think Keith would be at risk, being a half-blood, but it turns out that isn't the case. All Galra are born with a quissetence allergy, but many develop an immune response to withstand it. Quissetence is such a major factor in how a cypopod heals the body, that without this development, it harms greatly. Keith's immune system is one of the few that didn't develop a blocker to the a quissetence allergy." 

That voice Keith regonized slightly, but not enough to pinpoint immediately. 

"Uh...I kinda got that, I guess?" Shiro replied, a little wince escaping his lips as he spoke. 

"Eleani, please take the black paladin down to the orthopaedic wing and see if you can find a doctor to reset his knee." The voice Keith couldn't place said to the person pushing Shiro's gurney.  
"Will do, Xaphe." She said, before he's separated from Shiro and wheeled into a different room. 

A million other Galra are in the room and two million hands and tools are examining him at once. 

He tunes them all out and imagines a place that has everything he's ever wanted. 

Shiro is hugging him close, warm and cozy, the Black Lion purring softly above him. Kosmo is asleep by his feet, his favorite stuffed toy in his mouth.  
His mom and dad are there, his dad asleep with his head on Krolia's shoulder. 

He falls asleep with the vision in his mind, the warmth luring him into unconscious despite it only being an illusion. 

~~~~~

Keith wakes up in thin clothes that are much too big for him. 

He's cold. The black tank top he's wearing is made of material that was probably fine for Galra, considering they had fur covering their body, but for Keith the air easily infiltrated the fabric and let cool air in and out.  
The shorts weren't much better, but at least there was a fuzzy purple blanket covering up his bare legs. 

He slowly fluttered his eyes open, the bright lights burning his pupils. 

He sees two figures sitting on the end of his bed, and a Galra in a lab coat- the one who wheeled Keith in. 

Smell alone told him that the figures on the bed were Shiro and his mom. 

He wanted to hug them both so bad. 

He thought he'd never see his mom again...and he hadn't had an actual chance to just be with Shiro. Take in that he was here, he was alive, and he wasn't a hallucination. 

Luckily for Keith, his mom noticed that his eyes were open a moment later. 

A soft smile lit up her features, and she held out a clawed, furry hand, her nails retracting as her fingers caressed Keith's cheek with delicate precision. 

"My baby." She said in a soft tone, wrapping her arms around her son like it was the first time they met. 

Keith couldn't help the tear that fell, but he wasn't alone. 

Krolia was also crying, and Shiro wasn't too far behind, watching the scene unfold in front of him.

"I never thought I'd see you again." She whispered, holding him tighter than Keith thought he could bare. 

Just as it started to hurt, she pulled back, and wiped away the tears that gathered on Keith's cheek before attending to her own. 

Shiro flashed him one of the most beautiful smiles ever. 

It was only then Keith noticed that Shiro was in the same outfit Keith was, a large, snow white bandage tight around his knee where he'd been shot when rescuing Keith. 

He'd have to kiss Shiro for that later. 

As his eyes finally finished their adjustment period and he saw everything in almost perfect detail- it was still a little fuzzy but Keith didn't think much of it- he realized exactly where he knew the doctor from. 

The prison. 

That was the Blade doctor who told him that Keith that help was on the way and comforted him for as long as she could. 

She smiled when the realization hit Keith. 

"I'm glad to see you're doing better, Keith." She said, before her lips curved into a frown.

Keith tried to smile, but a sudden pain in his elbow and hand brought him back to reality, and he looked down to find his elbow bandaged the same way Shiro's knee was and an IV port in his hand. 

"Unfortunately, I have some bad news. We took blood, and found out that you have far too much quissetence in your blood. We also found an infection in your blood, but just before you woke up we gave you some antibiotics to treat that through your IV. However, wd need to have the excess quissetence removed as soon as possible, but the procedure is quite...intense." She explained, a sour tone taking over her voice as she finished. 

Keith raised his eyebrow, asking for more explanation without talking. He feared his voice may give out at any minute. 

"The process to remove excess quissetence has us inject a serum into certain veins all over your body, which makes the excess quissetence flee to a gland in your neck to receive further orders from the gland, which acts as the quissetence's home base. The gland should swell up, and we extract until there is no longer swelling, which indicates a normal quissetence level after the produce is done." She explains, reading off her clipboard every now and then. 

"Okay." Keith says, not too worried. Sure, it was a medical procedure and he was fearful after the torture he had endured, but it wasn't as bad as he had thought. 

"Well, I need to warm you...for you own safety and the safety of the medical staff, since the serum can induce violence, it requires you to be strapped to a chair." Xaphe says. 

"What? No-" Shiro starts to shout, before Xaphe stops him by waving a purple, fur-covered finger in his face. 

"I'm not done. We also need Keith to be awake or else the quissetence will not respond to the serum." 

Keith's face goes red. 

But he doesn't really have a choice. 

He shoots a rare, soft look in Shiro's direction and nods to Xaphe. 

"I'll do it." 

~~~~~~~~~

Keith swallowed as they moved him from the recovery room to the procedure room. 

He was certain he was shaking, maybe not enough for the medical staff to notice but enough for Keith to realize it and almost die panicking.  
His body couldn't do this. It had been used and abused by Haggar for too long- Keith thinks the second they insert a needle he's going to break like a thin pane of glass under the slightest pressure. 

He bit his lip, limping as he let them guide him to the chair- it looked like the one Keith had been put in when he was still in captivity when the Blade medic told him help was coming. 

"We're going to give you a heavy sedative in your IV port before we strap you down." The main medic explained. Xaphe, Keith remembered. She said she was going to be the main caretaker for Keith, that she was one of the best the Blade had to offer and Kolivan had spared no expense in making sure Keith healed. 

Perhaps because he saw Keith as the son he never had. Kolivan had always let Keith get off easier than if he was a full-bloodied Galra. If he made a mistake, it was training instead of a downgrade. If he got injured, he was given the best medical attention instead of left to deal with it on his own. 

If he was captured, it was rescue instead of death. 

Kolivan still didn't have all the power- the high council was the system of checks and balances- but he also didn't take no for an answer if he had his mind set on something. 

Keith nodded to Xaphe as one of the assistants flushed the entrance and inserted the needle to the IV port in Keith's hand under Xaphe's close supervision. 

Relief flooded his mind as the sedative numbed every part of his body, his mind going completely blank and slipping into blissful ignorance of everything going on around him. 

"Keith?" 

He opened his eyes halfway as the same assistant who had given him the sedative held a bright green oval in her palm, just a little larger than a pill.  
"This is a Ginla stem chew. It calms nerves and relaxes muscles, it's recommended for the procedure but not needed-"  
"She means that for extra comfort, you can chew it like the gum you have back on Earth. It's your choice, however." Xaphe cut her off, busy herself with drawing syringes full of a liquid with a blue tint to what would otherwise be a clear solution.  
Keith nodded in agreement, taking the pill in his hands and bringing it to his mouth. 

He closed his eyes and began to chew as comfortable straps went over his wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, hip, left ankle and a softer restraint around the cast on his right. The others were strong, almost like leather but covered in something that felt like cotton.  
The taste that flooded his mouth gave a kind of warmth to his heart- it was minty, but not overwhelmingly so, instead just being a little mint in the background of a mixed banana-strawberry like flavor.

A final, wide strap was placed around his neck. On the left side of the strap was a large, circular opening that allowed easy access to the skin. 

"The gland we will be extracting from is located here." Xaphe's finger ghosted over the opening.

From there on out, Keith turned out any voices and focused on the sedative, on the chew, anything to take his mind out of the procedure room. 

He felt the first pinpricks of the needles- one in each hand, one just above each of his ankles. The cold that invaded his veins was instantaneous, like his blood was freezing over.  
They continued pumping him full of the solution, quickly covering the injection site with warm, boarding on hot cream and a bandage. 

Keith lost count of how many times they poked him when they finally took an empty syringe to his neck- Keith hadn't noticed the sudden weight there until the syringe went in to remove the enlargement.  
It weighed less and less with every needle and every outpouring of the quissetence into a biohazard bin next to the chair. 

It took at least six syringes to completely drain it. 

And then it was done. 

They released him from the straps, letting him spit out the wad of gum as everybody in the room scattered to sterilize the room, taking the biohazard bin to an adjoining room as if it would explode any second.  
The line connecting his IV port to the sedative was taken out and his IV was flushed out before he was helped onto a gurney. The sedative was still running through his system as they wheeled him back to the same recovery room, where the flowers sat by the bedside table and all the little get well gifts were set down and where Shiro and his mom were patiently waiting for him to return. 

The sedative started to fade as he was helped back into bed.

And then his mind went into panic mode and he started seizing. 

In his blurry vision, Keith saw Shiro rushing to his side and Krolia yelling down the hall for a doctor, who ran in promptly and injected even more sedative into his veins as his vision went dark. 

~~~~~~

He woke up on a cloud. 

Clouds in space. That’s okay, maybe there was a cloud somewhere in space and he’d just hopped on.  
Keith saw no problem with that in his current state. 

There was a tickle in his nose, and he sneezed. A tiny, quiet, cute sneeze like he was a three year old.  
Whiskers were tickling his nose.  
They felt nice, so Keith didn’t question it. 

Then the whiskers disappeared. 

Keith whined. 

Then there was a robotic feminine voice talking to him, repeating the same words over and over again. Keith caught a little bit of it.  
“State your name.” The voice said.  
“Keith.” Keith's voice cracked as he spoke. 

“Key thief not recognized. Intruder alert has been alerted to main directory.” The automatic order didn't phase him at all. 

“Keeiith.” He said it slower, voice fading on the end.  
“Key it not recognized. Alarms going off.” 

A blaring buzz started filling the room, increasing a headache Keith didn't even realize he had. 

He groaned, rolling around on the cloud that felt suspiciously like a mattress. 

“Keith!” A familiar voice filled the room, drowning out the alarms for a few seconds. 

“Keith recognized. Alarms turning off.” The robotic voice reported, before completely shutting off and leaving him cloaked in silence again.  
A soft hand was laid on his forehead.  
“You're burning up.” The familiar voice, Allura, said in a worried tone.  
“Am not.” Keith spit back.  
“Yes, you are. You’re delirious as well. “ A strong hand was lifted under his shoulders, and another underneath his knees.  
“‘m not delicious.” Keith said dully as Allura picked him up bridal style and started carrying him out the open door.  
Allura ignored that comment.  
“I’m glad the mice told me you were so sick. I would have taken you out of my room and into the medbay if I knew any sooner.” She said quickly, turning a corner.  
“No medbay.” Keith shook his head violently, and he heard Allura curse under her breath.  
“Don’t hurt yourself more.” She said with a stern tone, as if she was scolding a child for getting into the cookie jar.  
“I wanna see Shiro.” Keith whined, closing his eyes and snuggling into the crook of her neck.  
“Shiro’s doing some important paladin business.” Allura reported, turning yet another corner and verbally commanding the elevator to go to the main floor. “I’m taking you to nap in the lounge.”  
“Yay.” Keith said quietly, nearly falling asleep before Allura even set him down on the comfy couch in the lounge. 

Allura tucked him in and dimmed the lights. 

“Goodnight, Keith. Sleep well.” It was less of an order and more like a wish. 

And Keith floated back away to sleep on another fluffy cloud. 

~~~~~~~~

His eyelids were quickly pulled apart, a light shined in his eye and then repeated. 

"They're dilating. The left more than the right. We may need him to get his eyes checked, the pupil reports have been sporadic." 

The medic was reporting more to Shiro than Keith- Keith was, in fact, delirious. His fever was approximately 102° Fahrenheit, estimate by Pidge. He could barely process what the medic was saying. It wasn't Xaphe, but it was one of the doctors she knew and assured that he was just as qualified as her while she was busy at the base.  
The medic's voice cut in suddenly "...ask him to open his mouth for a tick?" 

Shiro, fresh off from a mission on an unknown planet and hadn't even had the time to properly shower, only getting the decontamination wash, ran his fingers through Keith's bangs that were soaked with sweat, Keith's body leaning against Shiro's to keep his balance as he sat on the couch in the lounge.  
"Can you open your mouth, sweetheart?" Shiro's voice was delicate and bright, like you couldn't tell he hadn't slept for two days while on the mission. 

The medic had ended up just telling Shiro to ask Keith to do things the medic needed for his examination- at first, when Keith was asked to sit up, he strongly refused until Shiro asked him sweetly and he happily complied. 

The medic was smart. He picked up on the trust Keith had in Shiro- and while Keith didn't have zero trust for this medic, it was a pretty low amount. 

Keith did as Shiro asked. He wasn't necessarily happy about it, considering he had a bunch of toothaches lately and a little metallic taste coming from his gums, but he's fine. His throat was a little sore and it sometimes felt like he couldn't breathe, which is probably what the medic actually wanted to check. 

The medic shone a light down his throat, yellow sclera hidden under his eyelid as he squinted to see clearer. 

"Definitely inflamed. I'm guessing an allergic reaction, most likely to one of the antibiotics administered while he was at the base. I'll need a blood sample and a throat swab, and I'd like to have him on oxygen for about a dobosh. I'll give an anti-inflammatory, so the swelling in the throat will go down by the time I leave and he'll no longer require oxygen. Even now, oxygen is just a precaution in case the swelling worsens." The medic reported in a clinical tone to Shiro, removing the light from his throat and letting him shut his mouth. 

Keith was honestly too out of it to register the medic leaving and returning with a canister and the clear, plastic tubes Keith loathed. 

Without much preamble or say from Keith, the ends of the tubes were inserted into his nose and the oxygen began to flow freely. 

"Shiro, can you hold him still while I take samples?* The medic asked, Keith relaxing a bit as Shiro's warm arms wrapped around his chest.  
The cold elastic band around his bicep signaled that the medic was about to take blood from him once again. Keith had lost track of how much blood had been stolen from his veins since his rescue, but he was certain it was double, nearly triple the amount he had taken before he was captured.  
At least the feeling of the needle into his elbow was familiar enough by now, and lucky for Keith it didn't stay for long before pulling back out, the area of the insertion was wrapped in a slightly-heated bandage and secured. 

"Can you open your mouth again?" That was Shiro's voice, sugar sweet and practically dripping with adoration.  
Keith did as Shiro asked, then immediately cringed as a rough swab was shoved down his throat, rubbed at the back, and went back out without another hesitation.  
Keith coughed as it was removed. 

"Good job, sweetheart." Shiro said, and at this point Keith could tell Shiro wanted this to be over as much as Keith did. 

And once Keith swallowed a pill, it was mostly all done. They just needed to wait until the anti-inflammatory kicked in.

~~~~~~~

Keith woke up, not even realizing he had fallen asleep. 

He felt the tube in his left nostril being carefully pulled out, and realized that the one on his right was already gone. 

Probably what woke him up. 

Just a hunch. 

"All done. Call the base if anything else comes up. We'll send somebody as soon as we can. The rest of the anti-inflammatories are in the medbay. Twice a day, every twelve doboshes, by the oral route. No more needles needed." The medic reported to Shiro, who Keith was lying on the lap of. 

They hadn't realized he'd woken up yet.  
Maybe that could work in his favor.  
Maybe Shiro would carry him to bed. 

Keith firmly kept his eyes closed. 

"Thank you. He's had enough needles, it's good he can finally get treatment without them." Shiro's voice was delicate with a hint of worry. 

Keith's heart melted more for Shiro then. 

"I understand. I deal mostly with trauma patients, if something can be done without one, I try to take that route." The medic replied, and Keith could sense that he was smiling. 

The medic left with all his supplies, and then Shiro did something…. extremely unexpected. 

He began to sing. 

In his mind, he was practically alone in the lounge. The medic had left, everybody else in the castle was fast asleep, and so was Keith, just in his lap instead of in his bedroom. 

At first, it was just humming. It was soft, calculated, a melody that Keith recognized but couldn't pinpoint. 

Then he started to sing lyrics. 

"You are my sunshine." 

Shiro's voice was angelic. Keith had to admit he had never heard Shiro sing in the ten years he'd known the man, but he hadn't expected that when he finally heard him sing it would be so...perfect. 

"You make me happy." 

It took everything in Keith to not stop pretend-sleeping. He felt like he was lying to Shiro, breaking in on some kind of secret his boyfriend had.  
But he wanted to hear it for at least a little longer. 

"When skies are gray." 

If he cries when he's pretend sleeping, he'll give himself away, but it was becoming hard not to at this. 

"You'll never know dear," 

That pet name sent sparks down Keith's spine. 

"How much I love you." 

I do know, I swear. 

"Please don't take my sunshine away." 

Keith promises himself, then and there, he'll never, ever, leave Shiro again. 

Shiro hums another little tune that Keith can’t place at all, placing his artificial hand on Keith's back and setting the cooling function to its lowest setting.

Shiro finishes whatever song he was humming, before breaking the sweetness of his singing voice with spoken words. 

“There you go, baby. Let's get you to bed." 

Shiro's talks to Keith when he's sleeping?  
Is this why Keith feels his nightmares are sometimes chased away by an outside force? 

Without another thought, Keith suddenly has an arm around his waist and his head carrying him bridal style out of the lounge and down the hallways of the castle, into the elevator and into Shiro's room, Shiro humming quietly the entire trip and carrying Keith as if he's weightless. 

Keith is placed on the bed with Shiro not far behind, his arm still on Keith's back, soothing the cold chills that run down his spine every so often as a result of being ill. 

"Goodnight, baby." Shiro says, and Keith slipped into a state of sickly sleep once again. 

~~~~~~

He napped the entirely of the next day cycle. 

He woke up every so often, took his medicine and a drink of water, and went back to sleep.  
Shiro barely left his side-he had to for a little bit, for training and meals, but other than that he was watching over Keith at all times, as if he was afraid something would come and scoop him up while he’s sick and vulnerable. 

Keith can’t say he blames Shiro for that. 

Nothing will take his sunshine away ever again. 

~~~~~~~~

It barely got any better with the passing of a whole day spent sleeping. 

He had no clue it was even a possibility that Galran medicine could make him sick- although, it made sense when Keith had the brain strength to actually think about it. He wasn't a hundred percent Galra, the mishap had to happen at some point in his life.  
It just happened to occur at the worst possible time. 

His vision was getting blurrier and blurrier the longer he kept his eyes open, and even through the threat of his throat swelling shut was no longer present, it still was incredibly sore and scratchy. 

“Anything I can do for you before I go?” Shiro kneeled down by the bed, completely dressed up for some diplomatic meeting all the paladins were going to. Keith insisted that Shiro went and didn't stay back just for him, but that decision was regrettable now.  
“Stay.” Keith rasped out, watching as Shiro tried to hold his composure. Truly, Keith didn't want him to stay. He'd feel bad that the Black Paladin didn't attend a serious dinner just because his boyfriend was sick.  
“I want to.” Was all Shiro could say before he placed a quick kiss to Keith's forehead, brushing his damp bangs away before placing a cold, wet folded towel on Keith's forehead. Medic’s orders, to try and bring his body temperature down. 

And Shiro was gone with that. 

And Keith was alone with his own thoughts. 

Sure, Coran had stayed back in the Castle in case Keith needed anything, but he was attending to different technological issues across the Castle. 

So, technically alone unless Keith pressed the call button haphazardly attached to the wall next to him with makeshift Altean tape. 

Keith waited for about twenty minutes, until he was sure the rest of the team was gone and it was just Coran. 

Then he smacked the call button as hard as he could, bruising the side of his hand in the process.

All was quiet for all of a minute, until Keith's ears picked up on the sound of footsteps down the hall. 

The door to the room opened slowly, and then the calm atmosphere was punctured by Coran frantically entering the room with a water pouch and a couple of pill bottles. 

"I've got pain and sleeping medication right here if you need them!" He announced as soon as he realized he had arrived in the bedroom. 

"Uh-can I have a sleeping pill?" Keith said reluctantly, reaching out for the cream-colored bottle that he knew were for the sleeping medication. 

"Of course!" Coran poked the straw into the water pouch, opened the lid to the pill bottle and poured out one, pea-sized light blue tablet into the cap all in the span of two seconds. 

"Here you are!" He held both the pouch and the cap out, and Keith carefully grabbed the pill from the cap and took the pill, only taking a few sips of the water pouch until Coran looked at him expectedly and Keith drank the rest of it down. 

"Do you need anything else?" Coran asked, voice calm and caring but Keith still felt nervous asking what he else he wanted. 

"C-can you...uh...just...stay with me until I fall asleep? I just…feel uncomfortable after...you know…" Keith felt himself ramble on and on with no response from Coran, growing increasingly more embarrassed with every word. 

"O-oh! Of course I will! I can even tell you the story of the one time I had a very close encounter with a yelmor as a young boy!" Coran's voice rang throughout the room as he agreed with great enthusiasm. 

Keith felt safe as Coran went on about wandering into a forest on a vacation with his family and finding a yelmor until Keith drifted off with a smile on his face. 

~~~~~~

It took him a long time to wash his hair most days. 

While he was in captivity, he couldn’t cut it, so it just grew out. By the time he was rescued, it two inches past his shoulders. 

And he kinda liked how it looked. 

Now, it was a good four or five inches from his shoulder. It wasn’t easy to manage or wash, but Shiro seemed to like running his fingers down to his split ends. It was almost therapeutic for him.  
And if it helped Shiro, it was staying. 

He was drying it off with a large blue towel, trying to make sure none of it would drip onto the floor. His left leg had been acting weird lately, making it hard to kneel, so he’d rather not have to mop up a bunch of little droplets of water off the bathroom floor. 

Shiro was off on some diplomatic mission for the next few day cycles, but Keith still slept in his room. Keith’s own room on the castle had pretty much been abandoned, from him being with the Blade before his rescue and he’d been sleeping in Shiro’s room since he came back. 

He changed into his clothes for bed- just a t-shirt and sweatpants, nothing too fancy, keeping a towel on his head to soak up the water left in his scalp. 

He moved to the sink to brush his teeth before bed, grabbing his toothbrush from the holder next to the sink bowl and looking up at himself in the mirror. 

….why was his hair white. 

It wasn’t white before, just a few hours ago he’d been in the kitchen having dinner with Coran! He would have mentioned something, right? 

This isn’t possible!

This isn’t right!

In a moment of true panic, Keith’s instincts took over. 

Those instincts were filled with rage. 

The mirror shattered as his fist collided with the solid surface. 

Glass landed haphazardly on the ground, some shards sticking in his knuckles, making his whole hand bleed. 

Shit. 

~~~~~~~

The glass was still stuck in his hand as Keith roamed the dark colliders of the castle. 

A few tiny shards had lodged into Keith’s bare feet despite his best efforts to avoid the mess on the floor in his escape from the bathroom. He stole Shiro’s slippers to cover his feet while he walked around the hallway, fearing a trail of bloody footprints would scare Coran if he woke. 

Which hopefully wouldn’t happen.  
After all, it was deep into the night cycle, and Coran was the only one in the castle since everybody else had a mission. Coran was old even in Altean time, so he was most definitely asleep. 

Keith just needed to find the medbay, bandages his knuckles and the soles of his feet, and everything would be just fine. He could find a replacement mirror in storage, clean up the mess of shattered glass on the floor and install a new one. 

Nobody had to know. 

“Keith?” 

Coran’s voice echoed down the hallway. 

Keith regretted not keeping the towel on his head. 

Coran only used their real names and not a nickname when there was something serious happening- unfortunately, Keith had been hearing his actual name out of Coran's mouth a lot lately, with all these near-death situations he'd been having as of late. 

"Keith, my boy, is that you?" Coran repeated.  
The only thing that was probably keeping him from assuming Keith was an intruder and that Coran needed to issue an attack on the castle was the fact that Keith was wearing his signature pajamas of a red T-shirt that, while terribly itchy sometimes, made him feel safe. 

It was the shirt that Keith wore to bed occasionally before leaving for the Blades, leaving it in the castle. When Keith went missing, Shiro wore it to bed to have a piece of Keith with him. Keith mostly slept in it now because after so many cycles in the washer, it still smells exactly like Shiro. The worn scent of cinnamon and sweat and the lighter scent of his conditioner, made of some sort of alien mint. 

"It's me." Keith choked out, voice low and lungs feeling like they're drying up and he'll never speak again.

Coran paused for just a split second before replying. 

"Are you hurt?" 

And that's when Keith knew that Coran didn't care about the difference in his hair. 

He didn't go running, he didn't scream or demand answers. 

Instead, his first worry was Keith's health. 

Keith turned around to face the Altean, clutching his injured fist to his chest. 

"Yeah, uh, kinda." Keith admitted, voice gaining a bit more confidence.  
Keith hated to admit he needed help, that he needed somebody to care for him and tell him everything was okay. Growing up in the foster care system left much to be desired, the biggest part of it being the lack of true love Keith felt as a child. Keith thought one mention that he wanted to be cuddled or tucked in or cared for in any way would make his foster parents ship him back to the home where there was never any chance of love.  
But with this whole recovery from capture thing, he was learning to be better on actually telling people how he felt. He wasn't perfect, and sure, he still hid things, but he tried to open up a little more than he previously would. 

Coran's eyes widened. 

"There's blood on your shirt!" His impulse to care must have overpowered the instinct of shock to stay frozen in place, as Coran immediately began to rush forwards in the hallway to get to Keith.  
“R-really, it’s not that b-bad.” He stuttered as Coran was suddenly face to face with him, and the older Altean man made quick work of prying Keith’s hand away from his chest and holding it out for Coran to examine.  
“My boy, what did you do?” Coran asked, voice not angry or accusing, rather just infiltrated with the element of fear and pure confusion.  
“I...uh...punched the mirror in Shiro’s bathroom.” He confessed in a small tone, feeling like a little kid having to tell his foster parents he broke something.  
Coran raised his eyebrows. 

“I saw the hair and I just panicked, okay?” Keith’s voice was slightly raised. Not enough to be classified as yelling, but enough to be noticeable. He didn’t really mean to say it in anything but his regular tone, but it just slipped out. 

Luckily, Coran didn’t seem offended. 

“It’s alright. Is there shards in your feet too?” He asked, starting to lead Keith back down the hallway to the medbay while still holding Keith’s injured hand gently, as to not inlodge the glass further. He must have noticed how Keith winced as they started to move again. 

“I t-think only in my right foot. The left doesn’t hurt at a-all.” Keith pushed out through the slight pain. His left leg did feel kinda numb, but Keith assumed it was probably just because he was tired and losing blood. 

“Alright, my boy, we’ll get that all stitched up for you.” 

Keith let Coran guide him down the few more hallways and into the medbay. 

~~~~~~

A million stitches on his feet and his hand later, Keith was laying on a bed in the medbay, straw from an alien juice box in his mouth as he feebly sucked on it. 

There was, in fact, glass shards stuck in his left foot, just as many as the right. His hand still had the most, and Coran believes he may have sprained a few knuckles. 

The blood loss wasn't too much that they had to call Xaphe. In fact, Coran was even able to take a little bit of blood for testing to search for an answer about the hair color change. 

But right now, Keith had strict orders to lie down, drink the juice boxes Coran laid out for him, and eat the few cookies left from a batch Hunk made before the other paladins left for the mission. 

With all the cookies gone, Keith was now on his third box of an odd, purple fruit juice from a planet in the coalition. The fruit looked like an apple, with a deep purple coloring, but tasted like a mix between cherry and pineapple. It wasn't Keith's favorite, but it wasn't an unbearable taste either. 

Now Keith just had to wait. 

He was able to go back to his room that night, assisted by Coran until he was lying flat and eyes were growing heavy. 

By what was declared morning in their day cycle, Coran had a definite answer to the changes. 

The over-exposure to quissetence, although brief and now removed, is causing a jump-start in some sort of Galra coming-of-age process that wouldn't normally happen in hybrids or at Keith's young age in terms of a Galran lifespan. 

The hair was just the start- he'll grow fangs, his bones will mature (although that one shouldn't hurt Keith at all, and will be barely noticeable unless a bone density test is done), and possibly become more protective of his chosen mate. Coran made sure to confirm that "chosen mate" meant "boyfriend" in Earth terms, and that his "chosen mate" would be Shiro. 

Keith just soaks the information up the best he can and prepares how he's supposed to tell Shiro when he returns in the next few days. 

~~~~~~~

Keith spent the hour before Shiro returned trying to use a towel to completely cover his...new color. 

The Altean towel was large and fluffy, light blue like all the bedsheets and blankets. It did effectively cover his messy nest of white hair the first time Keith tried, but he was far too paranoid and redid it a million times, up until he heard footsteps coming from the hall.  
Then he actually panicked and fixed the towel in place just as a knock on the bathroom door came. 

"Hey, Keith. I'm back. Can I shower?" Shiro's voice echoed from behind the Altean metal of the door. Keith hadn't heard his boyfriend speak for...days.  
"Yeah, yeah I'll be out!" He yelled back like a standard housewife in the morning when their husband wants the bathroom and they're only halfway done with their full face of makeup. 

Keith walked slowly through the doorway, speeding up after passing Shiro and making a mad rush for the bed on the other wall. 

Shiro's usual scent was overcast by the deafening smell of sweat and dirt. 

Despite this, Shiro slowly turned his body to face Keith, who was sitting on the mattress refusing to look him in the eye. 

"Is that…" Shiro swallowed, lifting his still gloved hand up to point to Keith's head, immediately alerting Keith that a stray strand of white had escaped from the towel barrier. 

Keith yanked the towel off his head to reveal the full mess of snowy white locks. 

Keith's own hand shook as he began to speak. 

"Yes! Yes, my hair is white, yes, I'm turning more Galra now and I understand if you can't bear to be with me anymore." Keith started off yelling, voice lowering into a somber tone. 

Keith closed his eyes and waited for the door to slam in his face and leave him alone. 

Instead, Keith was wrapped in a warm, admittedly kinda gross, hug. 

"I could never stop loving you." Shiro whispered in his ear, holding Keith close as to say "I'll never let you go" without words. 

Keith smiled before thanking Shiro, then promptly sent him straight to the bathroom for a nice, long, hot shower. 

~~~~~~

"Mom!" 

Keith jogged over to the other end of the hangar where his mother had landed in a pod a few moments ago, Kosmo in tow.  
Despite his mom being quite tall, Kosmo was big enough that he was at her waist now. He was at Keith's chest as well, and it seemed he was growing taller every minute. 

She held her arms out as Keith ran into them, pulling him into a tight hug. 

"My beautiful boy." She whispered as she ruffled his hair, not seemingly caring about the color change, as if she was expecting it. 

She looked off over to the side, Keith still buried happily in her warmth. 

She moved her hand, in a way that Keith sensed as a "come hither". 

After another moment of it just being Keith and Krolia, another body that Keith instantly knew was Shiro joined the pile. 

"I love you, my sons. I always will." She kissed the top of both of their heads, being tall enough to do so without trouble, rubbing soothing circles into both of their backs. 

Krolia had already considered Shiro her son-in-law, because in Galran cultures, they should be married by now. The only thing holding them back was not being on Earth, and that they would both adore a nighttime wedding back on their home planet.  
Since Shiro hadn't had any true family since he was a toddler, Krolia letting him call her mom and calling him son any chance she got almost always made him cry. 

Keith spent time later, once Krolia had dropped Kosmo off at the Castle since he was no longer a threat to Keith's recovery and returned on her mission, comforting Shiro in the fact that Krolia loved them both as her sons. 

~~~~~~

A pounding ache in his jaw woke him up from his sleep later that night. 

He tasted metal in his mouth, like his gums had been bleeding slightly while he slept. He's lucky it wasn't too much blood- dying from choking on his own blood while sleeping would be a lame way to die after everything he's been through. 

He climbed out of bed, hoping he wouldn't wake Shiro as the bed dipped and returned to normal.  
Shiro just rolled over with a groan, eyes still closed as Keith moved into the bathroom to try and wash his bloody mouth out. 

He grabbed his water pouch by the sink, pouring some into a small cup before rinsing his mouth out. 

Except that when he spit the water out, there really wasn't much water. 

Blood was staining every inch of the sink bowl. 

He didn't mean to scream. He really didn't mean to. He'd already screamed in front of the sink one too many times, but he was panicking. 

Shiro rushed into the bathroom after Keith realized he had screamed, looked down at the sink that was drenched in Keith's own blood, and ran down the hallway without much preamble.  
Keith heard shouting for Coran, anybody to come help. 

Keith didn't notice he was growing lightheaded as his legs gave out and he fainted. 

~~~~~~

He woke up to a warm, calloused hand wiping sweat from his brow. 

"You're going to be okay." The owner of the hand mused, brushing Keith's bangs back. 

"Transfusion complete." The voice that spoke wasn't the owner of the hand, but it was a voice that Keith regonized, like he had heard it once recently.  
"We still have some of your plasma in case things go awry during surgery. He should be waking up soon." 

Keith fluttered his eyes a few times to signal to the owner of the hand- Shiro, the love of his life, that he was waking up. He wanted to know what they meant by surgery. 

Shiro seemed to get the point. 

"Good morning." He said calmly, soothing Keith as he opened his eyes to the harsh light in the Blade medical wing. 

"The specialist will be in soon to see if we can get this done as soon as possible." The slightly familiar voice said before leaving the two alone. 

Keith was in a Blade medical wing, he knew that immediately from the bright lights and the scent of cleaning products. He was in a private room, with Shiro at his bedside and an IV hooked up in his hand.  
The one thing Keith noticed right away was the pouch of alien fruit juice in Shiro's artificial hand and a thick white bandage over his elbow on his flesh arm. 

"You took a needle for me." Keith slurred out, the pieces clicking into place. The blood loss, the mention of a transfusion, and the way the voice-Keith was assuming he must be a doctor- said that they still had some of -his- plasma. 

Shiro snorted.

"It didn't hurt." He said, but Keith sensed the lie from a mile away and shot him a look. 

"It hurt a little bit." Shiro caved, taking a long sip of his juice as his cheeks went pink. 

Keith would have said more, but then a tall, slim Galra with a lab coat entered the room. 

"Hi, Keith." The doctor greeted, looking over to Shiro as well. "We gave you an emergency blood transfusion. The amount of blood you lost wasn't that severe, but it was a precaution. To put it simply, your Galran fangs are growing in. The fangs are a normal size for a full-blood Galra, but that's not what you are. Your mouth is too small to accommodate, and they're ripping apart your gums to try and push your first and second molars out completely. I understand you got what humans call "wisdom teeth" removed earlier in your life?"

Keith simply nodded, to which Shiro cut in.  
"He got them out when he was sixteen." He supplied, acting like Keith wasn't even present. He knew Shiro didn't mean to be overbearing, he was just scared about losing Keith again. 

"Great. So dental procedures aren't that different from Earth here. I'll put you under via IV sedation until you're asleep, then numb your mouth and remove your third and second molars, and stitch it up with a special kind of stitches meant for these kinds of situations that will let the fangs push in little to no pain." The doctor explained, writing something down on the clipboard. 

Somehow Keith didn't know about the "little to no pain" part. 

It was a lot to take in at once- Shiro had given blood for him, and now he had to go into surgery to get some of his teeth removed. 

At least he'll be under. 

"Are you okay with this, Keith?" The doctor asked, thick eyebrows raised. 

Keith swallowed. 

"Yes." 

The doctor's lips curved up into a little smile. 

"Perfect. So for after surgery, without complications, you can go back to the Castle of Lions to recover. No drinking through straws. Pour into a cup and sip gently. Do not eat anything that could cause infection, although both your Green Paladin and Yellow Paladin seem to be on that. We'll give you painkillers and frozen things can be used to bring down swelling." It sounded like it was mostly for Shiro's information, as he had been the one to help him recover from his wisdom teeth removal and he'd be here for this one, too. 

When Keith was bought into surgery later that cycle, he relaxed as best he could as the sedative began taking effect. 

He drifted off, hoping not to wake up until all of this was over. 

~~~~~~~~

He woke up with a sharp pinch in his hand and an ache on both sides of his jaw. 

He felt something that mimicked having teeth in the back of his mouth, and he regonized the feeling from the removal of his wisdom teeth. It must be something that resembled cotton balls back on Earth. It was an awkward feeling, but Keith wasn't stupid and knew it was for encouraging the blood in his gums to clot around the incisions. 

His head was tilted up oddly on a pillow, the bed he was lying on in a sitting position. He could see the bright lights above him when he opened his eyes, adjusting to waking up after the sedative. The site of the pinch in his hand was pumping a cool liquid into his veins, confirming it was his IV. 

He forgot how much he hated dental procedures.

"Hey, Keith." 

Shiro. 

"How you feeling?" Shiro asked, bringing a hand up to wipe Keith's brow.  
Keith flinched. Shiro's hand was warmer than his skin, and it felt like it was burning him.  
Keith meant to say "fine" in response to Shiro, but it came out garbled and unintelligible. 

Shiro nodded, although Keith was certain Shiro didn't understand him. 

"Doctor said the gauze can come out soon. No complications and you can go back to the castle by tonight." Shiro explained, placing his hand on Keith's own, avoiding the one with the IV hooked into it. 

Keith nodded, feeling the gauze-cotton ball things rub up against his bleeding gums, making him wince. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Shiro soothed. "Do you want me to fix the pillow?" 

Keith made a noise of agreement that Shiro interpreted as a yes, and he moved the pillow to sit comfortably behind his head. 

Keith mumbled out a thanks. 

Shiro smiled. "Anytime."

The doctor came in a moment later, a smile on his face. Whoever this guy was, he was far too happy all the time. 

"Hey, Keith." He looked back at a clipboard nestled in the crook of his elbow. "Everything went great. We can remove the gauze and your IV and send you back to your bedroom on the Castle of Lions to recover." 

Keith didn't really appreciate the tweezer-like tool probing his mouth as the gauze was extracted, but it felt better after it had been removed. 

The ride back to the castle was smoother than Keith expected, and he was back to his and Shiro's bedroom and falling asleep basking in the familiar scents. 

~~~~~~~

He woke up to somebody shaking him awake. 

It was a gentle shake, but a shake nonetheless. It reminded him of the few times before his dad passed away when he would be shaken awake, opening his eyes to his father's face, stained with tears. 

Keith never knew what he was crying about. 

All he knew was that hugging Keith made it better. 

He suspected, now that he was older and knew who his mom was, that it had something to do with missing Krolia. Hugging Keith reminded him that there was still a little bit of Krolia on Earth, in the form of his son. 

He didn't realize he was crying at the memories of his father until the hand that shook him awake gently wiped a tear that was running down his cheek. 

"Hey, Keith…" Somebody said, and although the voice didn't click right away, he woke up enough that his nose worked to identify the person as Shiro. 

He slowly opened his eyes, sniffling a bit as Shiro came into view. 

"You okay?" Shiro asked in a whisper. 

Keith nodded, moving his arm to wipe away at his wet eyes. 

"Thinkin' about my dad." Keith confessed, knowing Shiro wouldn't give up until he knew the cause of the tears, especially since he had undergone surgery yesterday. 

Shiro sighed before helping Keith sit up. Keith saw a tray by the end of the bed with a bowl, water pouch, and a few pills. 

"I was thinking about my gramps earlier." Shiro admitted as well as he moved the tray closer to Keith, so it was resting just above his lap.

Keith could see what was in the bowl then, and it looked like some kind of mashed fruit- although, it wasn't a fruit that Keith was familiar with. 

He poked the straw in the water pouch, taking the pills- a special kind of antibiotic that wouldn't make him sick like the other antibiotic had- and then looked awkwardly at the bowl of mashed fruit. 

"Sorry. Hunk made space waffles, but I'll be too hard for you to eat without your molars." Shiro said, actually sounding apologetic. 

Keith nodded in understanding. 

"Honestly, I don't feel any pain at all." Keith admitted, spooning mashed fruit into his mouth like playing the airplane game with himself. 

Shiro chuckled a bit. 

"What?" Keith asked, face stuffed with the mashed fruit. It was sour, but slowly turned sweet the longer it stayed in his mouth. The actual flavor was similar to a grape, which made sense with its violet coloring despite it most likely looking nothing like the grapes back on Earth. 

"You're still on really, really heavy painkillers. They shouldn't have worn off from the actual procedure yet. The stuff they used this time around was the stuff they gave me before resetting my knee. It's...real strong. Krolia was with me at first, told me I was saying a lot of silly things." Shiro explained, a little red blush staining his cheek, signalling his embarrassment. 

Keith remembered, back at the Garrison, when Shiro had to have his own wisdom teeth removed. It had been a year since Keith had met Shiro and joined the Garrison, and he learned then that anesthesia really messed Shiro up for a little bit.  
Keith couldn't imagine Shiro going under for a medical procedure after all the Galra did to him unless it was life or death, but it was funny the one time Keith witnessed him under the effects of anesthesia. 

"Just rest for a bit. It'll probably have worn off by the time you wake up, but the specialist said he'll come by later today to check on you." Shiro said once he noticed the bowl was finished, carefully removing the tray from Keith's lap and placing it on the floor, to which Kosmo eagerly got up from his bed and began licking the bowl clean. 

"Kosmo-" Keith started, trying to stop his dog so he wouldn't get sick.  
"It's fine. Hunk said the fruit is good for Abyssial Plain Wolves. He wants to bake him treats with some of the fruit in them, if Kosmo likes it." Shiro cut him off, watching Kosmo happily lick his lips with his long tongue after finishing the leftover fruit stuck to the sides of the bowl. 

"I think he liked it." Keith giggled a bit, watching as Kosmo plopped back down on his bed after eating breakfast. 

Shiro gave Keith a quick kiss on the forehead, tucked him in, and left for training. Keith followed in Kosmo's footsteps a few moments later, lured to sleep by his wolf's soft snores. 

~~~~~~

Distantly, Keith remembered the time he got his wisdom teeth removed. 

He was sixteen, still a student at the Garrison. They had just found out that Sam Holt had chosen Shiro to be the pliot for the Kerberos mission.  
He was given three days off of classes, and all of his teachers happily dumped the material on him to do while he was on bed rest from the procedure. 

After the procedure, he faintly remembers leaning against Shiro to help him get to his room, hastily limping alongside Shiro's precise steps. 

He unceremoniously dumped himself on his twin bed, falling asleep soon after. 

Later, Shiro bought him ice packs to keep on either side of his jaw, helping Keith sit up to take pills and get a sip of water. 

Right now, he felt exactly like he was sixteen again, with Shiro taking care of him after he got his wisdom teeth removed. 

Shiro was helping Keith hold an ice pack to the right side of his face, Keith holding one to the left side. The specialist had come in to check on Keith, said everything looked good, that the fangs were already starting to push through and grow in, gave Shiro a bottle of low-duty painkillers, and left them both to their own devices. 

And Keith was in pain. 

It was worse than his wisdom teeth, which he thought would be the worst pain he'd ever have to deal with. He soon learned that wouldn't be true, especially during his time with the Blades and his time in captivity, but he was expecting to experience the same levels of pain he'd experienced after that surgery. That's what he had prepared himself for, anyway. 

That, however, was not the case. 

No. This pain was so, so, so much worse. 

He'd experienced worse in captivity, but he still didn't know a dental procedure could cause him so much pain. 

The ice packs helped to ease his swelling gums, but it did little to help the overwhelming pain. He could practically feel his fangs push upwards against his freshly stitched up gums, tearing apart the sensitive tissue and ripping it like it was paper. Not like scissors on paper either, it was like a large, extremely buff man ripping paper apart with his bare hands. 

Speaking of extremely buff men…

"Is it feeling any better, baby?" Shiro asked in a soothing tone, removing his ice pack and signalling Keith to do the same. It was supposed to be fifteen minutes on, fifteen minutes off to ensure that Keith didn't get frostbite, but Keith wanted to say screw the rules and keep the ice packs glued to his face for as long as possible. 

"I can feel my gums ripping apart." Keith admitted in a stone-cold tone. He knew it wasn't Shiro's fault, but he felt like shit. 

"I'm sorry, baby.' Shiro said, beginning to ease Keith down from his sitting position on the bed to laying down with his head on the pillow. Keith was tired, so he didn't protest. 

"Get some rest. We'll take care of that swelling more later." Shiro promised, grabbing both ice packs, most likely to throw them back in the freezer until Keith woke up. 

Keith would never admit that he was out cold the second Shiro was out of the room. 

He would also never admit that he dreamt about marrying Shiro during that nap, either. 

~~~~~~~

When Keith's fangs finally grew in a few days after the procedure, which was much quicker than Keith ever expected, he was entirely too happy that the pain had subsided and he was able to go back to eating whatever Hunk had cooked for the paladins that meal. 

After a full Earth month of recovery and bed rest, ordered by Xaphe to make sure that no more illnesses crept in, Keith was finally getting back to his regular self. Minus the whole white hair thing and fangs, he was back to how he’d been before. 

Mostly. 

He was still on rest from any Blade missions, and wasn’t allowed to take part in any missions involving Voltron either.  
Even when he could go back, he knew something would never change. 

The nightmares. 

The way he heard Haggar echo in the back of his head, the way he could feel himself getting weaker and weaker until he finally woke up back in the Castle feeling too numb and empty to move

He’d talked to Shiro about it. 

Sure, Shiro wasn’t a psychologist, so he couldn’t officially diagnose Keith with anything, but he agreed it was most likely PTSD. Shiro had been diagnosed officially before being captured by the Galra due to having other traumatic things happen in his lifetime, the captivity only added another situation to his PTSD. 

So it was just the two of them iin bed some nights, wide awake because they either couldn’t sleep or couldn’t fall back asleep after a nightmare. It was a weird feeling, those times, almost like they were floating in limbo, but Keith liked it. 

When Keith went to bed one night, after reading one of the many translated Altean books until he felt tired enough to close his eyes, he thought that PTSD would be the only thing he’d have to deal with until the morning came. 

He was wrong. 

He woke up in the middle of the night, rubbing his eyes to adjust to the real world, placing a hand where Kosmo usually slept on his dog pet next to the bed to give him a pat on the head. 

Instead his hand gripped nothing but air. 

Keith was wide awake then- Kosmo had to be around here somewhere. 

Keith peeked over to where Shiro was sleeping soundly, not finding Kosmo on that side of the bed either.  
Looking down at the foot of the bed, he found the space wolf lying on Keith’s left leg, sniffing curiously and looking at Keith with worried eyes. 

Keith tried to move his leg to signal Kosmo to get off. There wasn’t enough room on the bed for Kosmo, and if he tried to lay on him or Shiro’s stomach or chest he’d probably crush something. 

The problem was that Keith’s leg didn’t move at all. 

Upon closer examination, Keith found that nearly his entire leg was completely numb. 

He gently shook Shiro awake, full of fear and realizing that Kosmo knew something was wrong and was trying to warn him. 

“Smart boy.” Keith whispered as he ruffled the fur on Kosmo’s head, praising him for the good work despite Keith on the verge of a full-fledged panic. 

Shiro’s eyes fluttered open peacefully, as if he was waking up in a meadow of flowers instead of in space with a terrified boyfriend at his side. 

“‘eith?” Shiro slurred, looking at Keith with confusion. 

“My leg won’t move, Shiro.” Keith said, tears threatening to spill over as his spoke. 

Shiro jerked awake, and Kosmo jumped off the bed and back into his dog bed, falling asleep as soon as he curled up. Keith supposed that now that care was transferred, Kosmo could finally get some sleep. 

Shiro picked Keith up gently, asking which leg and what it felt like as he carried Keith to the medbay. 

~~~~~~~

“I...don’t know.” Coran said, voice echoing throughout the medbay as the video call continued on. 

“Take a sample of blood and send it in a cargo pod. I’ll test it. Take it right from the leg. I’ll try to compare what’s in the blood to Keith’s records from captivity and see if I can figure this out.” Xaphe said, the sounds of a busy medbay coming in from the other end of the call. 

“Will do.” Coran nodded, before terminating the call. 

Keith was sitting up in one of the beds, numb leg propped up on pillows. Shiro was holding his hand so tight Keith was worried he may break it if he applied any more force. 

Keith didn’t feel the needle go in, or the extraction of his blood. It just felt like nothing. 

Anything that happened to his leg felt like nothing. 

“I’ll send this off to Xaphe.” Coran reported, and Shiro thanked him before carrying Keith back to their room for the rest of the night. 

~~~~~~~

A few days later, the door to Shiro's room opened with a dull swishing sound. 

Allura stood in the doorway, hair tied into a perfect bun and a short, sparkling blue dress ending at her knees. All the paladins were at a gala, and Keith was wondering why she was still here, all dolled up like she was going to a ball. 

“Keith, can you come to the longue? Xaphe is here.” She spoke calmly, accented voice hitting Keith's ears after so long reading a Galran mystery novel in silence.  
Keith wanted to protest, but by the look in Allura's eyes, it was serious. 

He hoisted himself up on the Altean-equivalent of crutches Coran had given him for help moving around and followed her down the winding hallways and eventually into the elevator and out to the lounge. 

There, Xaphe sat on the couch, lab coat still around her shoulders and eyes kind. 

“Hello, Keith.” She greeted, patting the spot on the couch next to her to signal Keith to sit. 

Keith did as such, leaning the crutches against the side of the couch as Allura sat on the other side of Xaphe. 

“In testing your blood, we found that it matches up to a poison that was injected into your leg in captivity. In short, the poison spread from the original injection site, getting rid of all the nerves and function in the spots it reached. So far, all we can tell is that it has taken over your leg, and it we don’t amputate it, it will spread up to your vital organs and shut them down, eventually killing you.” Xaphe said in a clinical tone, but Keith only caught one word from the whole thing. 

Amputate. 

The Empire was just waiting him out until he died from his organs shutting down. 

That was the end goal. 

“No.” was all Keith said. 

“No what?” Allura’s voice grew angry, questioning. 

“No to the amupating. Not happening.” Keith said, before grabbing his crutches and getting ready to leave. 

“Keith-” Allura started, before Xaphe put a hand in her lap and whispered something in her ear. 

He left the lounge with nothing stopping him.

~~~~~~~

Shiro was in a tuxedo when he returned later into the night. 

Keith wasn’t asleep. He was reading with Kosmo happily lying on his lap. Keith knew they shouldn’t encourage the behavior of being on the bed at any time, but he really needed Kosmo right now. 

“Hey.” Shiro said, voice completely neutral but definitely hiding something.  
“Hey.” Keith replied, mimicking the tone and not looking up from his datapad where he was reading.

“Will you at least do it for me?” Shiro suddenly said, taking Keith by surprise. 

He put his datapad down. 

“What?” He asked, and then noticed that Shiro’s eyes were filled with tears. 

“They said you would die if you...if your leg wasn’t amputated. I can’t lose you again, Keith…” Shiro trailed off, tears running down his cheeks. 

Oh geez. 

Keith held his arms out, and Shiro fell into the hug easily, sobbing into the fabric of Keith’s shirt. 

Keith knew how much Shiro had lost. How happy he’d been when Keith was returned to them after his time in captivity. How much Shiro had thought about him when Shiro was in captivity, wanting to come home to Keith.  
In honestly, Keith was one of the only people he had left. 

And Keith was being selfish, refusing to have his leg removed because he was scared, not even thinking about how much it would tear Shiro up to lose him again. 

He felt terrible. 

There was no way he was letting Shiro suffer any more than he already had. 

“I’ll do it.” Keith said, merely a whisper, and Shiro’s sobs began to die down into little hiccuping cries. Keith rubbed his back to encourage him, hoping to soothe him as Shiro had done so many times for himself. 

Finally, Shiro was wiping away the last of his tears, looking at Keith with a certain amount of gratefulness. 

“Thank you.” Shiro said after a while, and they cuddled until they both drifted off into sleep.

~~~~~~~~

The curtain went up quickly. 

It sealed his vision away from his shoulders down. His arms were rearranged by his side, and the medics started milling around, stringing face masks over their large ears and covering their mouths. They reminded Keith of the dental hygienists that worked on him when he was younger and forcefully pushed into the dentist's office. 

He was at the Castle, at Xaphe’s orders, stating it would be better for his nerves, She had a lot of help for the surgery, and frankly he was terrified. 

Shiro was by his side with a mask covering his mouth a tick later, holding Keith's hand in his own. Shiro started gently massaging Keith's wrist as Keith heard a drilling noise start, before stopping and repeating the pattern a few more times. 

His panic was upped by at least ten levels. 

“Keith?” One of the medics came around from behind the curtain, fluffy purple hands encased in latex gloves holding a syringe with a long needle attached to the end.  
“I'm going to numb you from the waist down now, okay?” The medic spoke calmly as Shiro continued to try and soothe his nerves. 

Keith felt tears well in his eyes as the dam that held him together as they prepared him broke into a million pieces.  
“No, I don't want to anymore, call this all off, I don't want to…” He trailed off as tears spilled down his cheeks, vision growing blurry.  
“Keith, it's going to be okay.” Shiro reassured, voice muffled by the mask. Shiro slowly rubbed the skin between Keith's index finger and thumb. Keith had to admit, it did help him relax a bit.  
“I don't wanna die, Shiro…” Keith choked out between sobs, wanting to say more but was unsure how. He didn't know what to say to convince Shiro to just help him off the operation table and get him away from the prodding needles and unnerving stares.  
“You'll die without them removing it.” Shiro's lips curved into a frown. He was trying, Keith knew he was trying, but Keith was just…  
He was too scared.  
For the first time since he could remember, he was scared so much he started to break down in front of a bunch of strangers. 

“Can you give Xaphe the okay? They'll give you another medication and then you can doze off.” Shiro continued to convince Keith to go through with it. Shiro was the reason Keith was doing this in the first place, honestly.  
Keith turned his view to Xaphe and gave a shaky nod. 

Do it for Shiro, he reminded himself as Shiro gave him a warm smile. 

The needle pricked his back, digging deep into his skin until it reached its destination. A cold sensation spread across his back not ticks later, and plugs were shoved in his nostrils attached to a long clear tube.  
“I'm so proud of you.” Shiro said as Keith heard the clinking sound of a scalpel being picked up from the tray full of different tools.  
“We're all good here. If he'd like to take a little catnap, he's free to do so. There's a small sedative in what he's breathing in now.” One of the medics spoke over the curtain. 

Keith's muscles were forced to relax as the sedative took control, preventing Keith from doing anything. Even his lips felt sealed together. 

Do it for Shiro, he reminded again. 

Keith laid his head down, the paper underneath him crinkling.  
Shiro whispered tiny bits of praise as Keith allowed himself to be taken over, giving his control away as a distant buzzing filled his ears.  
His eyelids felt heavy as the sedative pulled him under. 

~~~~~~

Keith woke up in one of the recovery rooms attached to the medbay on the Castle. 

For some reason, throughout the whole ordeal of being told his leg was dying and agreeing to its removal, he just thought when he woke up his brain would automatically register that most of his left leg had been cut clean off and was no longer a part of his body.  
Unfortunately for Keith, that was not the case at all. 

It itched when he first woke up. 

He went down to scratch and felt his fingers go through his leg like he was a ghost- except he wasn't, he was very much alive and that part of his body just... didn't exist anymore. 

Keith puked off the side of the bed. 

There was a lot of vomit in the beginning. After that incident, Shiro had wrapped him in a warm blanket and took him back to their room, and he cuddled with Kosmo until he fell asleep. 

Kosmo then teleported him to the bathroom every time he woke up. 

Because everytime he woke up, there was phantom pain. 

Burning, pins and needles, insane itches. He felt them all on a part of his body that was simply gone. It made bile rise up in his throat every time, and Kosmo knew how it went- Keith woke up, Kosmo teleported him to the toilet and Keith leaned over the rim and ejected all the food he had eaten at dinner. 

On the second day, Keith walked a small distance on crutches. 

He hated every minute of it. 

He just wanted to be able to walk again. 

He wanted to be normal again. 

~~~~~~

Keith bolted upright from the bed.

The nightmare had been horrid. 

Haggar was screaming at him. 

Told him he was too slow. 

Told him he would never be whole again. 

Told him he was unlovable. 

He breathed heavily, looking over to find Shiro fast asleep next to him. 

Keith felt both his legs itch, but he didn't fall for the ruse of scratching either. 

Instead he got out of bed and did his best to balance himself against the wall, walking out of the room and into the hallway. 

It had been about a week and a half, Earth time, since his amputation. He could walk okay with crutches, but he preferred to get around without their help. Balancing his side against the wall worked pretty well. 

Haggar's words echoed as he stumbled over himself, trying to go as fast as he possibly could. 

She was right about two of those things. 

But he was not too slow. 

~~~~~~

Footsteps echoed in the distance. 

Keith blocked it out the best he could, leaning onto the pure white walls of the hallway outside of the bedroom, trying his hardest to steady on only one whole leg.  
He was going too slow.  
He wouldn't be accepted on the field. He'd be shot down right away.  
Too slow, too slow, too slow-

“Keith?” 

The voice bounced off the empty walls. 

Keith made a low gutteral sound in his throat as he ignored the questioning call of his name. He continued to limp along, outstretched arm helping him balance with help from the wall. 

“Keith, answer me. I need you to tell me what’s wrong.” The voice returned, breath ghosting on the sensitive skin on his exposed neck. 

"I'm too slow." He slurred out, bottom lip falling heavy from lack of sleep. 

"What?" 

A strong hand fell on his shoulder. 

Keith spun across quick, trying to be fast, trying to show that he was strong…

But instead he found himself spiralling towards the ground, watching the cold metal come closer and closer…

Until Shiro grabbed him and stopped him from falling back to rock bottom. 

Shiro didn't speak as he carried Keith back to their room with ease. 

Keith didn't speak either. 

He just held in the tears. 

~~~~~~~~

Shiro carefully undid the bandages, skilled in the proper way after helping Keith out and doing it himself back when he was in captivity.  
Keith shivered at the very thought of having to do this all alone. Sure, Shiro had the knowledge that his arm wasn't going to last before, but the way it was taken from him was so brutal it was akin to Keith's leg suddenly becoming diseased and requiring removal.  
Keith winced when Shiro dabbed the ointment over the stitches and the bruised skin. The injuries weren't very recent, but it still hurt as if it was fresh.  
"It'll be over soon." Shiro promised, voice sugar sweet as he heated up the ointment up in his palms before applying it to Keith's skin.  
Always more concerned with his boyfriend's health and happiness than his own.  
Keith tried to say silent as Shiro finished. He let out a few whimpers and whines here and there, but Shiro only hushed him gently and continued. 

Once the injury was completely patched up again, Shiro reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed Keith's glasses. Keith had abandoned them without thinking when he left after the nightmare, too distraught to think about anything but proving his nightmares wrong. 

Shiro gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, a small smile gracing his lips.  
"You're adorable." Shiro said lovingly, hoping to erase the remaining fear that crept up in Keith's mind.  
Shiro frowned as tears began to form in the corners of Keith's eyes. The kind of frown that just broke your heart in two at the sight.  
"I just...don't want to be adorable. If I'm adorable I'm weak. I can't-I can't be weak again." Keith stuttered out, feeling as if he owed Shiro a response after a compliment.  
Shiro's face scrunched up, as if he was taking an insane advanced calculus test.  
"You can be adorable to me and still be strong." He said quietly. "You can be scarred and beautiful." His voice was small, soft and sweet. 

The events that transpired afterwards happened far too fast for Keith's brain to register at once. 

For one, Shiro pulled his black tank over his head and threw it onto the floor. 

And then he turned, such that his back was right in front of Keith's eyes. 

Reddish purple cuts all across Shiro's back were in full view. The cuts digged deep, deeper than Keith thought was possible with a blade. The curves in the cuts were also too smooth to possibly be made by a knife, and the pattern was too precise symboling…

The logo of the Galran Empire. 

Burned into Shiro's entire back.

Branded into Shiro's skin like he was some kind of animal. 

Keith’s first thought was “why not me?” 

This first thought also happened to be his first vocalication. 

“Why not me?” 

It was probably one of the most inconsiderate things he could have said, but once it came out of his mouth, it couldn’t take it back. 

“You were their information source.” Shiro’s expression grew even solemner, his mind starting to descend into that period of his life.  
Gray eyes grew glassy with all the unshed tears from that year. He may not remember all the little details or small bits and pieces, but he had been able to glue together the puzzle.  
Shiro’s muscles tensed as he spoke again. 

“I was their treasure.” 

And then Keith understood. 

Keith wasn’t a public possession of the Empire- he was a prisoner, traitor, even viewed as an object of the Empire, but he wasn’t paraded around like some kind of zoo animal. He was kept behind closed doors, tortured in sterile and hidden rooms. 

Shiro’s torture was public. 

Thousands watched as his morals was ripped away from him, forced to kill innocents that were scared and captured just like him. 

The Empire wanted him to be the strongest thing in the universe. 

They wanted to make him stronger than Voltron ever was. 

For Keith, they wanted him to be the weakest thing in the universe. They wanted him to be so incapable of thought and all sanity gone from his vessel that he was simply spilling out everything he knew. They wanted him to be in so much constant pain that he finally gave up the secrets just to make the torture stop. 

All the planets in the coalition knew that Keith was in the hands of the Empire, since Allura had sent out an urgent transmission to the leader of every planet to ask for their help in locating the paladin.  
But asking for help, the knowledge that somebody respected was captured is different than the broadcast Shiro experienced. 

The Empire didn’t need Keith to be branded- they knew if they kept him full of drugs and the around the clock torture contiuned, he would be too weak to escape. 

But they just kept making Shiro stronger. 

It was possible for him to escape, likely, even, if they didn’t keep him on a sedative. One little slip up on any inexperienced druid and he could break out. 

The brand would indicate to anybody who found him that he was property of the Empire, and to return him immediately. 

They didn’t say anything further that night. Shiro put his shirt back on, kissed Keith goodnight, and fell asleep with Keith’s head on his chest. 

Keith didn’t sleep a wink that night, just invisoning the brand sprawled across his boyfriend’s back like cattle. Like he was an animal. 

Like he was property. 

Keith would give his own life so that Shiro would never feel like that again. 

~~~~~~~

"Good morning." Shiro slurred as he woke up at the start of the day cycle, face melted into the pillow. 

"Yeah. Good morning." Keith said in a scratchy voice. 

"You didn't sleep, did you?" Shiro said, voice muffled by the pillow. He didn't sound mad or accusatory, he just sounded worried. 

Keith swallowed. 

"No." He said, sadly, eyes burning with tears. He still couldn't get the vision out of his head. 

Shiro reached behind him to grab his glasses from the nightstand table, looking at Keith's own still sitting smugly over his nose. Kosmo hadn't moved from his large bed in the corner of the room since they went to bed last night. His little snores indicated he was still alive, but other than that he was a tired lump. 

Probably from the days right after the amputation where he got no sleep from teleporting Keith to and from the bathroom.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine." Shiro said, climbing out of bed and stretching before heading into the bathroom and shutting the door. 

Keith didn't believe him. 

~~~~~~~

Keith stared solemnly at the burn tracing across his abdomen. 

It was funny, in a way. 

Shiro had never shown Keith the brand on his back, and Keith had never shown Shiro the third-degree burn that was caused by a stray piece of wood falling on a younger Keith's stomach in an attempt to rescue his father as their little house burst into flames. 

The door to the bedroom gave a warning noise that a hand was being scanned for entry, and Keith quickly put his t-shirt back down just in time, with Shiro coming in with a tray from the kitchen. 

"I hope you like fruit, because that's pretty much all Xaphe wants you to eat for the foreseeable future." Shiro announced, looking happy and energetic like Keith hadn't heard him crying in the shower not more than thirty minutes prior. 

Keith didn't say a word as a tray with bowls of odd space fruit was placed in his lap. 

"You know about my dad?" Keith finally spoke once Shiro sat down on the other end of the bed. 

Shiro shuttered. 

"Yeah." Was all he said with a shaky voice. 

"You ever wonder why I keep my shirt on during sex?" 

Shiro smirked a bit at that. 

"Ever wonder why I do?" 

Keith's mind flashed back to the brand across Shiro's back. 

"I know now." He replied, eyes darting down to the fruit in an attempt to not look Shiro in the eye. 

They stayed silent for a few seconds, although it felt like hours. 

"About your dad…" Shiro interrupted the tense silence. 

Keith decided it was now or never, and he lifted up his shirt. 

Shiro's eyes caught the burn the second it became visable. 

"I'm sorry." Shiro blurted out immediately. 

"Don't be." Keith said, letting his shirt fall back to his waist, grabbing the fork and poking one of the violet, strawberry like fruits onto the prongs. 

"Just know you're not alone in the secrets." Keith finished, before stuffing his face with the sour, juicy fruit so he wouldn't have to speak any more. 

~~~~~~~

Keith limped along with the sound of his crutches hitting the floor. 

Shiro was right by his side, not assisting him in any way. He was there in case Keith went down, which was still very possible. Keith was getting used to walking with crutches and no left leg, but 'getting used to' didn't mean he didn't trip a lot. 

Keith knew that he'd be going to their bedroom later still using crutches. 

But hopefully, he could picture his new prosthetic replacing the crutches, and he could run and jump and train like normal again. 

Pidge and Hunk had finished a basic mold for his prosthetic.

And he was on his way to test it out. 

It was supposed to attach with some sort of odd technology, allowing it to be secured onto Keith's bare stump since the amputation had no complications. 

Upon entering the lab, Keith's eyes were immediately caught on a shiny object sitting on one of the workbenches.

It was made with the same white Altean metal that Shiro's arm was made out of, but unlike Shiro's arm that had a light blue glow, this one sported a muted green.  
It looked like the exact same size and shape of a regular leg, so much so if color weren't an indicator, it might appear as through Keith still had two natural legs while he was wearing it. 

It was incredible. 

Keith couldn't wait to see how it fit. 

Soon, he was sitting on a bench while Hunk fit it to his stump. Pidge was nearby, as was Shiro, and Pidge was rambling on about all the new technology they used to build it. 

Hunk finished the attachments, and Keith was eager to try to stand. 

"Be careful." Shiro warned, arms at the ready in case Keith fell. 

"I will." Keith promised, before using his arms to push up on his torso, lifting his body up and standing on both legs. 

And then something clicked. 

And an unbearable shock racked up the stump of left leg. 

He shook, screamed, and fell right into Shiro's arms. 

There were shouts that Keith couldn't place words to, the weight of the metal being removed from his person, and somebody lifting him and whispering soft words to him that Keith couldn't process. 

Before he knew it, he was lying down on a bed in the medbay with an on-call doctor handing Shiro a tube of burn cream. 

"It's a minor burn. I don't see any other injuries, but I recommend bed rest for a little while. Any pain in the chest, call the base." The doctor stated firmly. Keith hadn't seen him, but it was approaching late hours of the night cycle, so maybe he was just the night doctor. 

Shiro nodded and took the cream, thanking the doctor as he left. 

Shiro sat down on the edge of the bed, holding Keith's hand with his flesh arm. 

"Hey, baby. Aware yet?" He said, in a dull voice, but it seemed like he'd been out of it for a decent amount of time. Shiro had probably asked that question a million times tonight. 

"Mm. Yeah." Keith murmured, voice low. 

"Do you want to go to the bedroom and sleep there?" Shiro's voice was gentle. The whole universe seemed gentle, at least right now. 

Keith gave a weak nod. 

Shiro smiled, lifting Keith into a simple bridal carrying and bringing him back to their bed, placing him on the mattress and tucking him in with practiced ease. 

Keith fell asleep immediately at the warmth of the blanket of Shiro's incredible love for him. 

~~~~~~~

"Hey, Hunk made some comfort food." Shiro announced when he entered the room with two trays, both with giant bowls of some sort of pasta mixture. 

Keith had woken up a little bit ago, when it was nearly lunchtime in the cycle. Because of his bed rest orders, Shiro had gone to get lunch for both of them. 

"What exactly counts as comfort food?" Keith asked with an eyebrow raised as the tray was placed in front of him. 

"Hunk says it's mac and cheese." Shiro replied, sitting down on the end of the bed with his tray, as if he was trying to convince himself. 

"Space mac and cheese looks completely different from Earth mac and cheese." Keith commented, watching Shiro eagerly take a bite, followed by his eyes lighting up. 

"Well, it tastes exactly the same!" Shiro exclaimed happily, pointing for Keith to try his own bowl. 

Keith hesitantly got some on his spoon and lifted it to his mouth, chewing slowly. 

And Shiro was right. 

"Wow." Keith said, admist Shiro devouring every bite of his. 

"So, what exactly happened to me?" Keith asked, causing Shiro to stop his shovelling of food into his mouth for a moment. 

"Electrocution. You have a minor burn where your leg was amputated." Shiro said quickly, either wanting to get the diagnosis over as soon as possible or wanting to eat the rest of his mac and cheese as fast as he could. 

Keith just nodded and went back to eating. 

Well, it was just another diagnosis. 

He consoled himself with an echoing whisper of "it'll all be over soon" inside his head. 

~~~~~~~

There was an odd feeling Keith had when he was called back to the lab a week later to test out an improved version of his leg. 

It wasn't phantom pain, but it did feel like something was biting at his stump. It was unfamiliar, made Keith nervous that maybe he'd get electrocuted again.  
He hoped the butterflies in his stomach were just a side effect of his anxiety as the new leg was attached into place- it looked exactly the same as the previous one, although there was more metal casing on the outside part. 

His leg felt incredibly heavy, and it did take a lot more strength that Keith expected to lift it off the ground and take a step. 

But he had a leg. 

When he reached down, there was something there. It wasn't just nothing, the air he gripped when he woke up from a nightmare and had an itch. Sure, it wouldn't necessarily be the exact same as having an actual leg, skin under his fingers when he touched, but it was something, and something was better than nothing. 

That was his philosophy, at least. 

He walked two steps before nearly falling over, happy to have Shiro's warm arms to greet him before the cold, hard ground did. 

"T-thank you." Keith stuttered, regaining his balance and sitting back down on the bench, ready to take it off for the day. They'd start physical therapy later. He was still supposed to be on bed rest, and in all honesty he was still really, really tired from...everything. 

Not that he'd ever admit that aloud. Maybe to Shiro. 

Okay, scratch that, definitely Shiro. 

Keith motioned for Shiro to sit down next to him, leaning in. 

"I'm really tired." He whispered, hoping neither Pidge or Hunk had ears good enough they could hear him. He was a good mumblers, but not a great whisperer. 

Shiro nodded. 

"I think we should go back to get a nap before lunch." Shiro told them both, to which Pidge cut in. 

"Actually, we have one more thing. It'll only take a second." She promised, pointing to the extra metal casing on the side. 

"Press the button." Hunk said at Keith's confusion. 

It was then Keith noticed that hidden inside the casing was the circular outline of a button, a small Blade of Marmora emblem etched into the metal. 

Keith gently pressed it, fearing that if he applied too much force it would break. It was still technically a work in progress. 

The top of the metal casing slowly raised up and slid out of the way, causing a little nook to be revealed, like a little cubby hole.  
There were two small hooks on the inside of the nook, perfect size to fit….

His Marmora knife.

Keith felt tears well in his eyes as he stared down at it, hands shaking ever so slightly. 

"...do you like it?" Pidge asked with clear uncertainty, with Shiro rubbing his shoulder encouragingly. 

Keith let a single tear fall. 

"I love it." He replied, looking up at Shiro who looked equally as happy. He'd been by Keith's side by this all. This was as real and incredible for Shiro as it was for Keith. 

"And he doesn't use that word lightly." Shiro joked. 

Later that night in their room, when the leg had been unsecured to Keith's person and physical therapy was on the horizon, Keith finally was truly happy for the first time since his captivity. 

~~~~~~~~

"Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot, come on, try to lift it a bit higher. That knee was impossible to build let's get some use out of it…" Pidge encouraged, standing at the end of the metal bars they had set up for physical therapy. Keith would grip the two bars on either side of him, only using them for support in case he fell.

He was doing pretty good now, was able to walk down the hallway using one hand, outstretched, to steady himself on the wall. 

Kosmo was also at the end of the bars, wagging his tail excitedly and sticking his tongue out with obvious glee. 

Keith grabbed, moved one leg, moved the other, and repeated. Grabbed, moved one leg, moved the other, repeat. 

It was simple, but it still took a lot out of him. 

By the time he reached Kosmo, he was exhausted and collapsed against the warm fur, letting Kosmo lick his face for his accomplishment. 

But he had done it. 

He had walked all the way. 

The hell was finally over, and he was more than ready for things to go uphill. 

~~~~~~

Years later, Keith could walk without the assistance of any bars, crutches or canes, and he had become a senior blade and married the love of his life.

Him and Shiro had a wedding back on Earth, after their eventual return, on a beautiful starry night where the constellations shone bright in the sky and the light green glow of Keith's metal leg and the soft pastel blue light from Shiro's arm mixed into the night sky, along with the scar running down Keith's cheek and the scar across Shiro's nose giving them the perfect symmetry of damaged yet beautiful people joining one another for the rest of their lives. 

Their first dance wasn't set to any music- just the natural sounds of the night. It was peaceful that way, in a way that music wouldn't be, joined together under the stars in pristine tuxedos. They'd waited a lifetime for this moment, and the lack of music didn't affect the amount of tears from their guests. 

Krolia was crying a river, Hunk was trying not to cry while Pidge was openly sobbing. Lance and Allura let a few years fall, contrary to Coran, who wept like there was no tomorrow. Even Kolivan showed, having the most emotion Keith had ever seen on the older Blade member. 

Two years after their wedding, Keith cradled their baby girl in his arms as Shiro held her twin close to his heart.  
"My little star." Shiro whispered to the baby in his arms.  
"My beautiful princess." Keith said softly to the little girl nestled in his elbow. 

Krolia cried when she first met the twins. They were her little rays of sunshine, her granddaughters she was determined to spoil for the rest of their lives. 

The moments in his life after his capture and rescue weren't defined by the fact that he watched his humanity slip away in a cold, dark cell in Galra captivity or that he had scars littered across his body like a page in a connect the dots coloring book or that from just above his knee down one of his legs was artificial. 

He still felt the affects of his torture- it took him a long time to get used to looking in the mirror and seeing snow white hair, or his molars being sharp and pointy and having to clip his nails more often than he liked to admit. Sometimes when the others remembered something from before Keith was captured, he would have no idea what they were talking about due to his quite unsafe impromptu brain surgery or he would think that he was holding his hand out or grabbing something only to find that his brain didn't communicate with his body. Sometimes he would feel an itch in his leg only to find metal under his fingers when he went to scratch. 

But all and all, his life had turned out okay. No matter how bad Keith thought his future would be while he was suffering the torture, even his worst day were better than he thought. He had his little star and beautiful princess at home waiting for him, and a mom who was ecstatic to be a grandma and watch her babies grow up. 

But most of all, he had Shiro. 

And as long as he had his family, he would be perfectly happy.

**Author's Note:**

> [My wonderful artist's work!!](https://twitter.com/aleesshu/status/1220766186570272768?s=21)!  
> 
> 
> [Tumblr](https://galrafloofandlove.tumblr.com)! || [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GalraFloof)!


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